Diversions and Truths
by Evans12
Summary: She thought moving from San Francisco to Las Vegas would make her free of him but it didn't matter because he still found her and came looking for her and their child.
1. Chapter 1

disclaimer: i own nothing except for the characters that i created

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Diversions and Truths

She joined the Las Vegas Crime Lab at the request of a former professor from school. The thought of getting out of San Francisco, was all she could ever think about then when the call came she jumped on it. Knowing it was the right move for her and her little boy.

When one Sara Michelle Sidle arrived in Las Vegas it was a little after four in the morning and besides having to grab her luggage she had a three year old boy that she had to wake-up from the short flight.

"Anthony Jethro, time to wake-up" (Sara)

"No me sleep longer mommy" (AJ)

"But the planes landed already and we need to get off" (Sara)

"What time is it?" (AJ)

"A little after four, so can you get up and walk for mommy?" (Sara)

"Okay, I can do that" (AJ)

"Thank you, buddy" (Sara). It wasn't the greatest of ways to start a new job in a new city but she needed to learn the lay of the land and the earlier in the day she learns the better, plus she need to find a daycare facility for AJ, to go to and that was what today was for. At least that was what Sara was hoping the day would turn out to be, one where she could at least get settle a little before having to work. Her hopes were that the new CSI she was called into investigate the shooting of would pull through so that it wouldn't seem so awkward investigating the senior investigator assigned to shadow the girl.

It was a new place with new dreams and a start at a second chance just her and her son. Yet, she knew that in order to make this her new home first she had an internal case to work first. Sara had just set hers and AJ's bags down inside the apartment when she got the call. The investigation starts now and she had no place for AJ to go and no one to look after him so he had to come with her.

"Hey sweetheart, I have to go into work and you have to come with me" (Sara)

"Why do I have to come?" (AJ)

"You have to come because mommy, has nowhere for you to stay so you have to come with me" (Sara)

"Fine, but if we go to crime area me stay in car, while you work. Okay?" (AJ)

"Sure thing, sweetheart" (Sara). Before they even left the apartment Sara grabbed the pack of cars she had sitting just inside her carry-on bag to give to AJ, when they got here to play with, instead he was getting them in the car to play with while she worked.

"Anthony, these are for you to play with while I work" (Sara)

"New Cars? Thanks mommy, you're the best" (AJ).

Upon arrival at the scene she made sure AJ was secure and content in the car before she went in search of Gil Grissom, her former professor, mentor and the supervisor of nights. It wasn't long before she found him and one of his underlings testing a theory of his involving there current case. They talked for a few minutes before he informed Sara of who she was going to be investigating, but before she left Gil introduced her to his colleague and one of her new team members.

"CSI three, Nick Stokes. Meet CSI two Sara Sidle, she's going to be helping us out for a little while" (Gil)

"Nice to meet you" (Nick)

"Same here, I should probably get going. It was really nice meeting you Nick, Grissom" (Sara). Then she was back to the car to head off to the Crime lab to start her investigation and hopefully find somewhere safe and out of the way for AJ to stay while she worked. Likely for Sara she found the break room to be empty so she put AJ in the corner out of the way of the employees at the Crime lab and told him to stay there until she came back for him.

It wasn't till after her conversation and meeting of Catherine Willows that Sara realized that she needed to get her son home before she went to confront Warrick Brown. Once she went back to the break room, Sara couldn't find AJ anywhere and that was scaring her. Since AJ was only four and he doesn't know his way around, Sara was really concerned for his safety and well-being. Just as she came to the conclusion that she should probably report this, she heard his voice calling to her.

"_**MOMMY**_, see I told you she would be looking for me" (AJ)

"Yes you did" (Brass)

"Anthony Jethro Sidle, what did you think you were doing?" (Sara)

"I had to go to the bathroom" (AJ)

"It's alright…?" (Brass)

"Sara Sidle, CSI" (Sara)

"Jim Brass, Captain homicide. I take it this little fellow belongs to you" (Brass)

"Yes he does, I apologize captain if he was any trouble" (Sara)

"He was no trouble at all, your new right?" (Brass)

"Yeah I was brought in for the Holly Gribbs incident. Got in early this morning haven't really found anywhere to house him while I'm working at the moment" (Sara)

"I figured that much, I have a number for a place in my office that some of the lab techs and police officers use, that is open 24/7 to accommodate local law enforcement if you want the number, you've got it" (Brass)

"That would be great" (Sara)

"Alright, just wait here and I'll get it for you" (Brass). Normally Sara wouldn't accept help from others when its comes to work or AJ but this was different she was new and was truly in need of a daycare facility for AJ, since she can't keep bringing him to work with her.

She decided to call the number given to her by captain Brass, once she had AJ nicely secured in his car seat in the back seat of her car.

'_Las Vegas junior enforcement daycare, Nancy Banes speaking' 'hi my names Sara Sidle, I work at the crime lab and I was wondering…' 'Wondering if we could help you out with your child care situation, of course we can' 'how did you, know?' 'Jim Brass; called us. He told us to expect a call from a Sara Sidle and that she was new to Vegas and needs a daycare for her son' 'I see, so…can I bring him over?' 'Of course you can, we'd love to take him. All we ask is for you to bring a backpack full of things that he may need and don't worry about food and sleeping areas we've been doing this for a long time' 'okay, I really appreciate this' 'it's our pleasure and our address is…' 'Okay, we should be there in about an hour' 'alright, see you then_'. Sara felt that she's finally getting a chance at having everything that she needs for her and AJ to get by in this city. All she had to do now was explain to her sweet little boy that, he wasn't going to be staying with mommy will she works like he did in San Francisco.

"AJ, come here a second" (Sara)

"Yes mommy?" (AJ)

"You know, how much I love having you at the lab with me right?" (Sara)

"Yes" (AJ)

"See, this lab kind of frowns on that plus, they don't know about you really and that captain you meet today. Gave me a number for a great daycare place that take care of law enforcement children" (Sara)

"So I'm going there?" (AJ)

"Yeah, if that's okay with you?" (Sara)

"It's fine with me, mommy" (AJ)

"Great, so go grab two of your favourite toys and place them in your backpack to take with you" (Sara)

"Okay" (AJ). For some reason that seemed easier then it normally does with him. Naturally the easy going of her son didn't last long because the little boy was missing something that he wanted, to take with him for when he sleeps.

"_**MOMMY**_" (AJ)

"Yes baby?" (Sara)

"Have you seen, '_Matches_'? I can't find him" (AJ)

"Okay, let me check my carry-on bag for him" (Sara)

"Okay" (AJ)

"I found him Anthony, he was on my bed" (Sara)

"Great, thank you mommy. Ready to go?" (AJ)

"I just had to finish up a few things…now I'm ready to go" (Sara). Sara had to make sure that she had packed everything that AJ was going to need, his pull-ups and his medication.

Once they arrived at the daycare, Sara received the call she was hoping not to get, the one informing her that Holly Gribbs has died, making this investigation go from one of competence and reckless endangerment to negligence resulting in death. That just made it harder for her to leave her son in the care of strangers even though she knew she was going to have to deal with the matter at hand. AJ was standing by the window watching his mommy, drive off before he turned towards the daycare lady gathering all the children up for lunch.

Sara found Warrick exactly where Catherine said she would find him at one the casinos off the strip playing a hand of cards and betting big on each hand. She patiently listened to what Warrick had to say and then broke the news to him that Holly had died twenty minutes ago. The news wasn't taken by Warrick as she expected fast and hard, he wasn't expecting her to die. Hell he wasn't expecting anything like that to happen, but it did and he knows he's the one who was responsible for keeping an out on Holly while at that Crime Scene but he left to do some other stuff which in the end cost Holly her life. It took a little over two days for them to solve the case and Sara's findings to Grissom was that Warrick Brown was too busy off with other activities to do his job, which cost a young officer her life. Which was the same conclusion that the actual police review committee came up with and instead of the disciplinary actions she was thinking they figured it was wiser to get rid of him. Then when she found out that Grissom was keeping him on she couldn't believe it, the guy broke every rule in the book and he was allowed to keep his job she couldn't believe.


	2. Chapter 2

disclaimer: again i own nothing but the chacters that i created

Sorry for not updatinf lately been busy but I'm back...so let the fun begin, I hope.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily for Sara during those first few weeks on the job in Vegas she had become friends with everybody in the lab and had become pretty good friends with Jim Brass, he became AJ's honorary '_Grandpa_' Jim. That made Sara feel a bit better about the decision to come to Vegas, because both her and her son had found themselves a new home one that should last a long time for them. It was just before the end of shift when she was approached by Nick asking her if she wanted to join the team on going out for breakfast Grissom's treat, taking a second to think about it Sara agreed AJ could wait another hour or so, so she called Jim and asked him if he didn't mind watching him for a bit longer as long as he wasn't at the breakfast as well. He wasn't so she made the call and he was alright with watching AJ until Sara could pick him up, personally he thought it was great that Sara was doing something with the team. During breakfast the conversation was light nothing to gruesome was talked about while they were waiting for there food or during the food but Sara could sense a question stirring that was going to rock her world.

"So you guys, hear the rumor about Brass?" (Nick)

"What rumor?" (Catherine)

"Nicky-my boy, there is no rumor about Brass floating around" (Grissom)

"Really, then why did I hear from a reliable source that he has a kid, then?" (Nick)

"That's no secret he has a picture of her on his desk" (Grissom)

"I know about that picture but somebody saw him picking up a little boy last week from that L.V.J.E. all hour daycare" (Nick)

"Don't believe everything you hear Nick" (Catherine)

"Fine, they could have been mistaken…so Sara, tell us about yourself, interests, hobbies, anything?" (Nick)

"Yeah tell us about yourself Sara, we don't know much about you other than your from San Francisco and you were taught by Grissom" (Warrick)

"What else is there to tell. You know pretty much everything about me, I have no interest or hobbies other than work" (Sara)

"Impossible there has to be something" (Catherine)

"There's nothing, seriously. I've been in Vegas for two months and all I've done is work. No time to have any fun" (Sara)

"Bummer" (Catherine)

"That sucks" (Warrick)

"I think Sara needs a good old-fashion Vegas night on the town or in our case day on the town" (Nick)

"Don't worry about it I'm fine" (Sara)

"No Nicky, has a point you need to get to see this city when your not working" (Grissom)

"I'm good with just seeing it when I work, I swear. Anyways look at the time I need to get going home, I could really do with some sleep" (Sara)

"Same here I need to pick-up Lindsey from my sisters before my sister goes to work so I can spend the day with her" (Catherine)

"Okay, tell Lindsey I say '_hello_' and Herbert is doing just fine" (Grissom)

"I still can't believe you got my daughter interested in bugs" (Catherine)

"What she was curious" (Grissom)

"So you had to show her?" (Catherine)

"She asked and I answered" (Grissom)

"Whatever, I'll see you all later" (Catherine)

"You bet" (Warrick)

"See you later" (Nick)

"Yep, I'm leaving to myself" (Sara)

"Alright I think we should all get going anyway" (Grissom). As much as Nick knew it was now or never to ask Sara out he was thinking of going for it until she got a phone call that changed that whole situation around for him. '_Sidle' 'hey sweetie, where are you? I came around looking for you and AJ and the landlord says you moved' 'how'd you get this number Joe?' 'You gave it to the station and they were more than willing to pass it along to me. So…where are you and my dear son at I'll come and join you two' 'no not this time Joe, I wanted to get as far away from you and that's why I took him with me' 'but Sara were meant for each other and you know that. Plus you can't keep my son from me' 'I can and I will and don't ever call this number again Joe_' with that she hung up on what she hoped would be the finally time she had to speak with him, worst part was she didn't even realize that one of the team was still there and heard a small part of the conversation.

Sara didn't even bother to stop and run she needed somebody to talk to and Jim was the only one she could really turn to at the moment who knew anything about Anthony's father.

"Sara, you alright?" (Brass)

"Not really, I just had a call from Joe. He wanted to know where AJ and I are" (Sara)

"Did you tell him where the two of you are?" (Brass)

"No I'd never do that Jim. Joe, hurt me and AJ that's why we left" (Sara)

"Then how did he find your number?" (Brass)

"The lab in San Francisco never knew about the abuse. I left my new number with them so my old boss could call me if he needed me for any important cases that I worked on, that are going to trial" (Sara)

"Okay, so with none of them knowing. They gave Joe the number and he called you wanting you and AJ, back" (Brass)

"Yeah, I told him no that he wasn't getting us back this time. But I'm afraid he's going to find us" (Sara)

"Don't worry, the both of you are safe in Vegas. The team wont let anything happen to you and I wont let anything happen to you and AJ" (Brass)

"Thank you Jim, you're a great friend. I'm happy I meet you" (Sara)

"Same here" (Brass). At least knowing somebody was on her side was better then anything else, all she had to do was figure out someway to tell the team that she has a son. Sure enough Joe managed to get a hold of an old friend of his who owed him a favour and that friend was able to track Sara and AJ down for him.

It was just at that six month period that Sara had started to feel the attraction between herself and Nick grow. She knew eventually that the feelings were going to get to be too much and that they would have to act on them and that was something that scared Sara, last time she let someone in that close AJ was born and she was abused by the man as well. But Sara knew that Nick was different he truly cared for her and was interested in getting to know her plus, Jim said Nick was a great guy and told her AJ would love him. So the decision was made she was going to give Nick a chance, a few dates before dropping AJ into the mix just to make sure he'd be okay with the fact that she had a child.

The two had been dating for about a month when Sara figured it was time that he met the main man in her life. That confused Nick he didn't think Sara would cheat on anybody then when they pulled up outside of Brass' house he was confused then again he hadn't ever noticed the car seat in the back of her car before today.

"Nicky, I know you maybe wondering why were parked outside of Brass's house but everything will make sense to you in a few, okay?" (Sara)

"Okay, if you say so" (Nick), sure enough he was wondering why they were parked outside of Brass's house until he saw the captain and a little boy no older then three come outside and the little boy was running straight for Sara.

"Mommy, you came. Grandpa Jim said you wouldn't" (AJ)

"He did, did he?" (Sara)

"Okay, it was only a guess. But this guy knows a whole lot better than me when it comes to his mommy" (Brass)

"Yep he does" (Sara)

"Mommy…who's that?" (AJ)

"Who's who?" (Sara)

"The guy in your car!" (AJ)

"Hey buddy you remember that guy, that grandpa Jim and I were telling you about?" (Sara)

"Nick, right?" (AJ)

"Yeah Nick. I wanted him to meet you, since I really like him and I want you to like him as well. Cause if you don't I'll stop seeing him, okay?" (Sara)

"Okay, mommy" (AJ)

"Hey Nicky, you can get out of the car now" (Sara)

"Hey Stokes, nice to see you outside of work" (Brass)

"Same goes for you Brass and who do we have here?" (Nick)

"We have Anthony Jethro Sidle, but everybody calls me AJ" (AJ)

"AJ? So this is the guy you are always talking about. It's nice to meet you AJ" (Nick)

"Nice to meet you too, Nick. Mommy, what we doing today?" (AJ)

"I don't know, I thought I'd leave that up to Nick, what do you think buddy, can he handle the job?" (Sara)

"I think so" (AJ)

"Okay, then. Well I hear the zoo or the fair is pretty cool, which one do you think sounds like more fun AJ?" (Nick)

"Fair…went to zoo Sunday with Grandpa Jim" (AJ)

"You did, did you?" (Sara)

"What he really wanted to go and I had nothing better to do that day with him anyways" (Brass)

"Alright, well let's grab your stuff so we can get going" (Sara), as Sara was getting up to go help AJ with his stuff she was stopped by AJ asking if he could get Nick to help and she had no problem with that.

While those two were inside that gave Jim sometime to talk to Sara about something he heard on Friday when he went to pick AJ up from daycare.

"Sara, I don't know how to exactly tell you this" (Brass)

"Tell me what?" (Sara)

"You know, how I picked up AJ on Friday and had him till today so you could work right?" (Brass)

"Yeah?" (Sara)

"Well when I went to pick him up he told me he saw his daddy and when I asked Nancy about it she told me that there was a guy who came by who seemed to have known you and AJ asking questions then AJ yelled out daddy as he went running towards him. But don't worry her son was there and he stopped AJ from going anywhere near Joe" (Brass)

"Oh god, I never thought he'd ever manage to track us down. Guess I was wrong" (Sara)

"Don't worry Sara, he won't ever find you and AJ" (Brass)

"That's what I thought before I took Grissom's job offer guess I was wrong" (Sara)

"No mommy, we move from daddy, right?" (AJ)

"Right buddy, remember, why?" (Sara)

"Yeah, he hurt me and you" (AJ)

"Yeah he did and that day I promised you that he was never going to hurt either one of us again so we left" (Sara)

"Sara, I never knew" (Nick)

"Don't worry Nick, this time Joe isn't going to hurt either of us because I won't let him" (Sara)

"What are you planning on doing?" (Nick)

"What I should have done along time ago" (Sara)

"And that was what?" (Brass)

"Full thing mommy, right?" (AJ)

"That's right buddy full custody. Joe went to jail for six months that's why I was able to transfer out of San Francisco to help Grissom out. But he's out and managed to track us down" (Sara)

"Hey relax, Sara. He's not going to hurt you or AJ again if we can help it" (Nick)

"Thank you Nicky, maybe we shouldn't go to the fair today" (Sara)

"If you say so" (Nick)

"But me want to go" (AJ)

"I know buddy, but daddy could be there" (Sara)

"Me don't care! Grandpa Jim, you come to fair too please for protection" (AJ)

"Okay, pal. How does that sound to you Sara, if I come with you Nick and AJ when you three go to the fair?" (Brass)

"I'd like that Jim" (Sara)

"Then it's settled I'll come to" (Brass). Just when she thought her life was ruined she realizes that she has found two great guys that want to help and care for her and AJ no matter what. If only they knew how dangerous Joe could actually be then they might think again about sticking around her and AJ.

After only being at the fair for thirty minutes, Sara's mood changed very quickly from one of concern to one of extreme happiness seeing her son and Nick getting along so well. But naturally the happiness was replaced with fear when her phone started to ring. '_Hello?' 'Sara, sweetheart. You know nobody can ever replace me in AJ's life, so why try?' 'Joe? Where are you?' 'Around, who's the guy? I figure the old guy is a good friend since you trust him so much with our son. But who's the young guy with him?' 'A friend, why you jealous?' 'Babe you know me better then that. I don't get jealous I just get even. So you going to tell me or not?' 'How about not and we call it even?' 'Sorry sweet-cheek's, don't work that way. Especially when I'm staring right at them and you know I could probably kill that young guy without a moment's hesitation and take AJ with me' 'you wouldn't do that?' 'Oh but I would Sara and you know I would. So just give in and come back to me and everything will go back to normal' 'no Joe I'm not coming back to you and your never going to get AJ' 'so naïve aren't we? I guess that's why you stayed with me for so long' 'no I stayed because I thought I was in love but that changed quickly once I found out about your other girls' 'they never meant a thing Sara, they were just my release when I needed it and you weren't feeling me even when I roughed you up' 'this conversation is over, stay away from me, my friends and my son_'. Just knowing that Joe was at the fair and watching, Nick and AJ playing together with Jim near them was freaking her out, so she had to get out of there or at least find a safe place to talk to Nick in.

Once she got Nick alone, she told him about the phone call she just got form Joe and the threat that he placed on Nick. Just hearing Sara tell him about the call he could tell how freaked she was about it and he blamed it all on her ex for putting her through this hell.

"Sara, darling. Don't worry, this guy doesn't scary me" (Nick)

"But he scare's me, Nick and that's what matters the most" (Sara)

"I know, I'm not saying that it doesn't worry me. Seeing you this scared of a man, because believe me beautiful it does" (Nick)

"Thank you and I know you can handle yourself but I need to think of AJ's safety and the fact that he threatened you and Jim in a way frightens me" (Sara)

"Don't worry Sara, Brass and I can take care of ourselves. Plus we won't let anything happen to you or AJ, I promise you that" (Nick)

"I know that Nicky, and that's why I love you so much" (Sara)

"You love me?" (Nick)

"Yeah I think I do, is that okay?" (Sara)

"Of course it is, Sara. I love you too and I really like AJ as well" (Nick)

"Great and all we have to do is wait and see what AJ thinks about you" (Sara)

"Yep and I'm cool with waiting until he feels comfortable with telling us" (Nick)

"I love you so much for wanting AJ's opinion" (Sara)

"I love you too. Now let's get back to that little group of ours" (Nick)

"Okay" (Sara). While Sara and Nick were talking AJ wanted to tell Jim something of importance himself.

"Grandpa Jim" (AJ)

"Yes buddy?" (Brass)

"I love you" (AJ)

"I love you too bud" (Brass)

"And grandpa Jim I like Nick too. He nice to me and mommy" (AJ)

"Well then maybe you should tell him that" (Brass)

"No me to shy, I tell him later" (AJ)

"Sure bud, you tell him whenever you feel like it" (Brass). Jim knew that just hearing AJ confess to like Nick, meant a lot especially considering everything that Jim knows AJ has been put through.

It seemed from wherever Joe was he managed to hear everything that his son said and that made him extremely mad. Now he wasn't just going to hurt Sara and her friends and take AJ he was going to eliminate this Nick character and leave Sara in pain from losing two people that she cares about, one being this Nick guy and the other beingAJ.


End file.
